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A review by ellelainey
The (Pet) Detective Agency by noji
4.0
THEMES: age gap, missing pets
TRIGGERS: mentions of stalker, attempted sexual assault, missing people
Fumika Sako runs a detective agency, after finding that being a policeman wasn't quite what he expected. He's a bit flighty and easy going, in that he'll try any job that appeals to him, but the detective thing has stuck. One day, he saved Rou Nakamura from being beaten and brought him into his home, and his company. From then on, he went from solely handling human cases to also missing pets, because there's something about Rou that draws animals in.
For me, this was a story of two halves - the first explores Rou's ability to find missing pets, which often results in a new addition to the growing menagerie of pets in the office. The second half is more about a human case, and their personal relationship development.
Rou has been in love with Fumika since the start, probably a little hero worship, but definitely since they started working together. However, he was only 19 when Fumika brought him into his life and business, and Fumika considers that to mean Rou is underage. While this probably wouldn't be the case in many countries - like to me, in the UK - the date in Japan was 20 (until 2022) so this caused some age gap dramas.
The art is cute and really well done. There's some awesome chemistry between Rou and Fumika, even while Fumika fights against it, because he sees Rou as underage. Rou is persistent but not to the point that it feels creepy. They live together, which adds an extra layer and dynamic to their relationship. The first half of the story lets them focus on investigations, with only small hints of Rou's feelings; but they really start exploring their relationship in the second half as Rou's 20th birthday comes closer.
While it's really cute, I do feel there was something missing, I just can't put my finger on what. I think maybe the halfway split made it feel like two separate volumes, I'm not sure.
TRIGGERS: mentions of stalker, attempted sexual assault, missing people
Fumika Sako runs a detective agency, after finding that being a policeman wasn't quite what he expected. He's a bit flighty and easy going, in that he'll try any job that appeals to him, but the detective thing has stuck. One day, he saved Rou Nakamura from being beaten and brought him into his home, and his company. From then on, he went from solely handling human cases to also missing pets, because there's something about Rou that draws animals in.
For me, this was a story of two halves - the first explores Rou's ability to find missing pets, which often results in a new addition to the growing menagerie of pets in the office. The second half is more about a human case, and their personal relationship development.
Rou has been in love with Fumika since the start, probably a little hero worship, but definitely since they started working together. However, he was only 19 when Fumika brought him into his life and business, and Fumika considers that to mean Rou is underage. While this probably wouldn't be the case in many countries - like to me, in the UK - the date in Japan was 20 (until 2022) so this caused some age gap dramas.
The art is cute and really well done. There's some awesome chemistry between Rou and Fumika, even while Fumika fights against it, because he sees Rou as underage. Rou is persistent but not to the point that it feels creepy. They live together, which adds an extra layer and dynamic to their relationship. The first half of the story lets them focus on investigations, with only small hints of Rou's feelings; but they really start exploring their relationship in the second half as Rou's 20th birthday comes closer.
While it's really cute, I do feel there was something missing, I just can't put my finger on what. I think maybe the halfway split made it feel like two separate volumes, I'm not sure.